Frozen Night: Of Ice and Fire
by jjpdn
Summary: A Tenno is a savior, a being who walks the path of goodness. Keeping balance in the solar system, they are the rightful protectors of peace and of the innocents. To do this, they massacre millions. However, nothing is black and white. Do these... children, really understand their actions? (raised rating to compensate for future plot) HIATUS
1. Prologue

_Why..._

.. _.have you walked this path?_

I look into the Lotus' eyes, tears brimming.

"What do you remember?"

 _How could you be so heartless?_

I close my eyes. "I was... a hero."

 _They didn't die on impact. They bled out. Slowly. Days of endless pain. It would have been torturous. Why did you do it?_

Her lips curled into a comforting smile, but it did nothing against the onslaught of memories.

"Margulis must have been proud."

... _is all this because..._

 _...of me?_

I tried to smile at her.

"Yes." I lied. In my heart, I knew what the real answer was.

* * *

 **A/N:** Latest updates will be on my Warframe account's thread:

topic/620036-spoilers-frozen-night-of-ice-and-fire-a-tale-of-broken-dreams-3112016-the-mystery-of-winter/


	2. A Spark of Winter

Not every rescue is perfect.

Not every beginning is showered by light.

Not every villain stay the same.

No matter how much you want them to be.

"Tenno." Heavy metal armor clinked as a man of brown camouflage walked into a room. His eyes scanned around him, skimming over what looked like ancient golden ruins. It was completely overgrown with plant life, splitting appart what was once unbroken. The broken architecture also revealed the high quality inside, as if representing a golden age long lost.

As if in response to the spoken word, a sound of releasing hydraulics was heard and the three heavily armored guards around the man raised their weapons in alarm. A body crashed onto the ground as if boneless in front of them.

"Aaah, so the Lotus has awakened you." The man looked up at the cryopod that the body was just released from. "Pity, she seems a bit too late."

The humanoid in front of the four armored soldiers seemed to try to stand up, but failed. The sudden un-frosting must have left him weakened.

The man grinned at the sight. "You, are mine now." His grin changed into a frown. "Ah, I must not be too hasty this time." His left hand, which was reaching for an orange object, instead reached for a purple one. It looked like a cross between some kind of organic growth, except metal and with protrusions. The man walked cautiously beside the body. Then, the body flinched as he stabbed it with his gadget. His work done, he turned around to leave. "Leave him. The effects of this one... is much more dramatic." The three guards followed him out the room.

"So he is still alive. The last one was only a clone. But, this is no time for talk. I must not lose another of you!" A feminine voice rang out. Then, the body glowed blue, as if being energized. But, as he was standing up, redness spilled out of the attached purple device and surrounded his body. "What is this?!"

 _Void link severed._

 _Reason: Foreign Carrier detected. Origin unknown. Suspe-_ zzztch

 _Motion compensation complete._

 _Selenic lensing... error._

 _Somatic control - unable to establi-_

 _Margulis Implant - WARNING! Foreign carrier detected!_

-zzztch-

 _Initializing Somatic Overlay..._

 _Good night, swe-_ zzztch- _CRITICAL ERROR - Good night... ...fallen angel._

The humanoid being tried to stand, but his vision was crackling with static and all his senses were in haywire. Unable to keep his balance, he fell backwards and accidentally released all the blue energy that was building up inside of him. Six glowing blue ethereal blades pierced out of him with a swift cutting sound, spraying his surroundings with his own blood.

"Tenno!" The female voice cried out in worry.

"So it worked." The man and his three guards were at the doorway, having probably not left completely the whole time. "Now, for part two. Grab him and bring him to the ship. The Queens will be very happy about this." The body gave no resistance as he was dragged away by the three guards, blades having dissipated and leaving gaping wounds.

The lone man in the room now smiled at seemingly nothing. "I win this round, Lotus." He then followed his fellow soldiers, enjoying the horrified disembodied voice's gasp.


	3. A Spark of Winter Part 2

"I see you have awakened, Tenno."

The body had no eyes to see with, but suddenly, it was as if it a dark cloud parted from its 'vision'. It was laying on a metal berth in the middle of some kind of surgery room. Many different rounded tools were scattered around and equipment littered the floor. The surfaces of the objects hanging from the ceiling looked robotic and organic. Beside him, was once again the man that planted the purple gadget on him. Examining him, the body found that the man had no helmet on unlike the guards from before, a lighter build and a weird glowing metallic object located where the heart was.

"You may have noticed... some changes have been made to you."

It looked at itself. Once, it looked like a lean slightly muscled man in a skin tight suit, covered with markings. Some kind of blunt horn was also located on its forehead and it had no face. But now, it looked like it had fused with two people who didn't look like his original self at all. A blue coat wrapped around his body and covered some of his legs. Blue swirls curled around the metal-like cloth. His legs now looked more curvy than before and his lower legs seemed to have extensions on the sides of the calves. Wrapped around his now thicker thighs were dull gold colored ornamental metal sheets. His own head stayed mostly the same, except now had red lines crawling up the sides twisting with blue ones. The purple gadget once attached to him was also gone. Lastly, his arms were also mostly unchanged, except for some kind of dull gold shoulder guards.

"You were heavily damaged. Luckily, we found others still alive that we could... ...salvage... parts from. I couldn't let any possession of mine break before I can use it." An unsettling grin morphed into existence on the man's face.

More than scared out, the body tried to move, but found itself unable to. The man's evil smile turned more sinister.

"Tenno, Tenno," he sounded condescending, "You didn't think we would give you... upgrades, without you giving something in return, did you? Arise!"

Against the body's own will, it sat up and faced the man.

"Hm... Alad V's work is more successful than I hoped. But, I must make sure to not make the same mistake Vor did." The man spat out the name with disgust. "Taking my prize like that..." He muttered under his breath, his face scrunched up in rage, before turning to the body. "Tenno! Follow me!" The man exited the room with his 'possession' following behind.

They walked through corridors filled with more armored guards before arriving at a prison cell. Inside, behind a wall of energy columns, was another being that looked similar to the body's original appearance, except in a different color scheme.

A pistol found itself slapped into the body's hands.

"Kill your fellow Tenno." The being behind bars suddenly jumped to attention, understanding that death was a possibility. Without hesitation, the abnormal fusion of three people raised his pistol, took aim at the other Tenno and pulled the trigger in one movement. Blood splattered onto the cell walls.

The man grinned. "It looks like it did work-" To his surprise, the body inside the cell dissipated into little blue flakes.

"What? A decoy?" A bang sounded out of thin air and a glowing blue projectile flew over the man's head. "The Lotus must have sent infiltrators! Guards!" He then turned to his possession. "Oh no, I have a better idea. Pet! Bring me your brothers' and sisters' heads!"

The consciousness inside the body tried to resist, but it was no use. Its head snapped to face a corner and his hand pulled. Another being, this time even skinnier than the original body's look but with horns instead on the side of its head, was knocked out of its invisibility cloak as a stream of what looked like fire connected it and the 'pet's' hand. Ice started crawling over the would-be rescuer. Before the fusion's body could steal all the heat from its target, it was hit by a wave of psychic energy and its thoughts were momentarily jumbled. Its target cloaked again and it felt him escape.

"Do not worry, Tenno, I have sent a squad to save you- Boril! What have you done to him?" A female voice, identified before as the Lotus, rang out.

The now identified man grinned. "The old man was an idiot. Anything can be bought with enough money, especially Corpus technology. Being a bit low on funds, Alad V was happy to sell a bit of his research to me. Now I have surpassed Vor! I have controlled a Warframe! This Tenno is mine!"

Having recovered from the mental attack, the Warframe under Boril's control found a new target: the person who attacked him. This time, its enemy looked even more similar to his original body, except feminine and a different helmet. The patterns on the skin were exactly the same but instead sea-foam green. She had some sort of energy weapon aimed towards her rescue target and was indecisive on to shoot or not.

The body made the decision for her. Using the thermal energy taken from its previous target, it shot out a beam of burning plasma. The move was so sudden its target could not dodge and the light hit her at full power. The force fields protecting her stood no chance. Fire ate at her flesh. She fell silently, without a grunt of pain.

"No!" The Lotus cried out.

Boril just clapped slowly at the display. "Well done!" "Well done! Now, finish her off."

The fusion walked towards the burning Warframe.

Sssching!

The controlled Tenno fell to its knees. Its first target, the ones with the horns on the side of his head, slowly faded back to visibility behind him. By his hand, badly frostbitten just like the rest of his body, a dagger was stabbed straight into the base of the body's neck.

 _Foreign device eliminated._

 _Selenic lensing relocked._

 _Somatic controls re-established._

 _Margulis implant damaged._

 _EVM status: inconsistencies detected._

 _War platform synced at 60%._

 _Initializing synaptic overlay..._

 _Arise, fallen angel._

The body's original consciousness suddenly found itself able to control its own actions again. Before it could carefully remove the Tenno on its back, he slid off by himself. It seems that the fusion had done too much damage to his rescuer. Its gaze scanned both of its fellow Tenno. Both of them were on the ground, one burnt and the other frozen.

"Pet! Now, come back to me, we have much else to do." Boril turned around and exited the circle of armored soldiers who had gathered around the three Tenno during the fight.

The body's hands balled up into fists in silent fury. It had killed its own brethren, murdered them when they couldn't fire back. Two lives, now lost. And it was all because of him.

The fused body suddenly spread out his arms... and the loss of two comrades became power.

The room exploded.


	4. A Spark of Winter Part 3

A hero is a savior.

A hero is a hope-bringer.

But sometimes, to some...

A hero is a demon.

* * *

Burning corpses lay everywhere on the floor. Shattered glass and broken machinery created a layer of debris. A true battlefield.

A foot crushed one of the dead soldier's head.

"So you have found me again. Chasing me across the whole ship. You must be a bit angry."

A sigh.

"You know, Vor was once my brother." Boril stood away from the monster Warframe and the group of carcasses, looking out a large window and straight into outer space. "We were not born when we were cloned. Instead, we were only truly born when we met in war. There is nothing that unites like the threat of death." He sighed. "He was different than the Vor you met. His wisdom surprised even the Queens. His courage inspired legions. And I? I was the young, naive child." The lightly armored man seemed to be a lost in memories for a second, before shaking his head. "But I was brave when he was cautious. I was a demon in battle where he was an angel of death. I was strong where he was weak. And he was strong where I was weak."

There seemed to be pain in his eyes. "And then, came the day he received the Janus Key." He closed his eyes. "All his work, just like many of our scientists, was for a way to stop the Winter that was foretold. Having hit a dead end, he turned to the only path left available to him that had a shred of possibility to succeed. But he couldn't have know the danger of that Orokin Artifact. Who would have known that it had the ability to corrupt?" He finally turned around to face the Tenno.

"I blame your kind, Tenno. While he was descending into insanity and even tried... tried..." He paused as he grimaced. "...tried to kill me, but he didn't die from that. He died by your hands." The man's fists scrunched up. "Why did HE have to die... WHEN I LIVED?" He breathed to calm down. "He could have saved the Grineer..."

"What is this 'Winter' that you speak of, Boril?" The Lotus' voice sounded in the room.

"That is for you to wonder and a secret for me to die with. Hopefully with you, Tenno!" The soldier put on a helmet, before suddenly turning back towards the window and smashing the reinforced glass with his augmented fists. Everything started getting sucked straight into space, but Boril grabbed onto a metal bar and sealed his suit with a click.

"Warning! Decompression detected in sector A4!" Red sirens blared.

The lone Tenno, luckily, crashed into a navigation console and was pressed against it by the pressure of the rushing air. But it had another problem. The lack of oxygen will kill it sooner or later.

"Tenno! That console is the bridge controls! Maybe you can do something with it!" The Lotus advised.

Loving its luck at the moment, the mutant Warframe painfully reoriented itself so that it could see the screen better. It then changed its mind and cursed its luck silently. Unknown letters flashed across the screen. The being waited a moment for a response from the Lotus.

A second of silence. "...you may have bigger problems than you thought. This ship is on a course towards a Grineer outpost. Infiltrators that I have sent before have already wiped most of the Boril's research, but there is another copy on this ship. If the rest of his kind receives this copy, the Tenno might possibly be in big trouble." The Warframe shivered as it could still feel the wound on the back of its neck. "You have to find a way to destroy the data."

The Tenno looked around and spotted Boril using random hanging pipes to slowly crawl towards the doorway. He had already made decent progress and was now closer to the exit than it. The Warframe looked at its own health status located floating in his field of vision. It was slowly decreasing, much slower than one would expect from been in a vacuum. Though, that was probably because there was more air coming from holes in the room's walls, sustaining both the force trying to push the only two people left into space and the small amount of oxygen in the room.

Frantically, the fusion of three Warframes looked around for a handhold. Around him was just the flat floor, as if Boril had planned this (which he did).

The Lotus' disembodied voice gave advice again. "Try to use your Warframe powers and melt holes into the ground." The Tenno tried. Finding that Boril was out of range, it absorbed the limited amount of heat from the lamps on the ceiling. A few seconds later, there was just one hole for it to grab on to. "Quick! He's almost there!"

By the time the Warframe entered the pressurized hallway after making many holes and shut the door behind it, its target was long gone.

The Lotus spoke up again. "I have bad news and worst news. He has taken the rescue team you heavily wounded and must be running towards the smaller cargo ships on this carrier-class spaceship." The Tenno was still happily surprised that his fellow man and woman lived. "The worst news? I don't know if you can destroy the data and save them at the same time."

Suddenly, for the Tenno, the situation felt all too familiar. But it just couldn't remember how and when.

"...if you would like, I could make the decision for you. You are running out of time. Soon, you won't be able to do either of them. It pains me to leave such an unfair choice to you. Here, I have decided. You m-"

But the Warframe was already running down the hallway.

"I'm sorry you have to be in this situation, if only things were different." The Lotus apologized again. "...where are you going? This is the path to the reactor. Are you saying..."

 _Kill one to save two._

There was no way the lone remaining Tenno was going to let his rescuers get tortured.

 _Murder one hundred to save two hundred._

There was also no way it was going to endanger its own race.

 _Massacre ten thousand to save twenty thousand._

Having seen no way to do both...

 _Commit genocide on a million to save two million._

It all just comes down to numbers.

The monster's memory was hazy, but there was at least one million Tenno. On this ship, there was two Tenno, it, and Boril.

 _Kill four to save a million._

It readied a stolen rocket launcher and aimed it at the spaceship's reactor. This way, _maybe_ it'll be able to destroy the ship before Boril could leave with his comrades, saving them from torture by sending them to the afterlife.

The monster's finger-

Static filled its vision.

It fell to its knees.

 _"Is this how you repay our kindness?"_

 _"Murderer!"_

 _"Oath-breaker!"_

 _"You are no savior, just-"_

 _...God's creation fallen from heaven._

The monster struggled to raise his weapon.

 _You are just... a false prophet. A fire thief. A murderer._

It was finally able to line up the shot. Its trigger finger twitched.

 _A fallen angel._


End file.
